Nehemiah 1: Four Pillars for Praying with Power

Introduction

"Bad news. That's where Nehemiah begins." Darren Wolf, vicar and senior pastor of Christ Church Spitalfields in London, continues the "Praying People" series, in which the church learns to pray from the men and women of the Bible. This Sunday, he focuses on Nehemiah's prayer in chapter 1.

Everyone has had a day of bad news. The pastor shares his own: the day of his A-level results, the day he was laid off from a job he loved, the day he learned his mother had cancer. "Following Jesus doesn't exempt you from any of that." The ground gives way, and the question rises: what am I going to do now?

Nehemiah prayed. From his prayer, Darren Wolf draws four pillars that hold up a powerful prayer: knowing God, knowing God's people, confessing sin and asking big.

Sermon outline

1. A day of bad news

It is winter. Nehemiah lives in the palace at Susa, in the heart of the Persian Empire. His brother Hanani arrives from Judah, and Nehemiah asks the question that has probably weighed on him for a long time: how are things in Jerusalem?
The answer is grim: the survivors of the captivity are "in great affliction and reproach," the wall is broken down and the gates have been burned with fire (Nehemiah 1:3, WEB).
In Nehemiah's world, a city without walls is wide open to thieves, gangs, armies and every kind of violence.
What is surprising is that the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem 140 years earlier. Nehemiah holds a comfortable, powerful position with the king, and as far as we know, he has never seen Jerusalem. Why does this news hit him so hard?
Because he belongs to God's people. He will call Jerusalem "the place of my fathers' tombs" (Nehemiah 2:3, WEB). A ruined Jerusalem means the judgment and shame of God's people exposed before all the nations. Nehemiah sits down, weeps and mourns for days. Then he prays.

2. First pillar: know God

Every figure studied in this series has one thing in common: they know who God is. "They don't take a chance on a God they've heard a couple of things about on social media." They trust a God they know intimately, personally.
Nehemiah addresses "Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God," who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him (Nehemiah 1:5, WEB). A God whose ear is attentive to every word, whose eyes are open to everything, and who has bound himself to his people by a promise.
This is a God to whom you can bring the big things, not only the small ones: our city, our nation, our church. "Lord, see, hear, and help."
Faced with the ruin of Jerusalem, Nehemiah doesn't complain, doesn't blame anyone and doesn't ask why others aren't doing anything. He takes responsibility and brings the situation to a God big enough to take care of an entire city and steer the affairs of a nation.

3. Second pillar: know God's people

Nehemiah knows he isn't alone. He is part of a bigger story, and he carries all his people with him in prayer: he prays "day and night, for the children of Israel your servants" (Nehemiah 1:6, WEB).
This is not a quick, one-off prayer. He receives the news in the month of Chislev, around November. We find him again in the month of Nisan: four months later. "If you started praying now, you would keep going until early February." Four months of prayer, day and night, for people he has never met.
Others pray with him. In verse 11, he speaks of "the prayer of your servants, who delight to fear your name" (WEB).
This is the church. When we pray, we pray with this church family, with the church across London and across the world. Together we lift our prayers to God.

4. Third pillar: confess sin

As he looks at this immense God and then at the people coming to him, Nehemiah sees a gap, and it leads him to something extraordinary: confessing sin. "I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against you" (Nehemiah 1:6-7, WEB).
How can you confess sins committed by others? The individualism of our culture makes it seem impossible. Yet if someone in my family does wrong, it reflects on me. If someone in the church did something terrible, the press would come asking us for answers, and we would all have to work to put things right.
Jesus teaches the same thing in the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts" (Matthew 6:12, WEB). Not "forgive me." There is a place for personal confession, and there is a time to stand before God on behalf of the whole church. "It is for us to confess the church's failings."
On February 8, 2023, at Asbury University, a small group of students stayed behind after an ordinary chapel service. They began honestly confessing their sins and seeking God's mercy. The result was a 16-day gathering and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
A member of the Asbury University team in charge of that gathering recalls: "For the first few days, repentance and forgiveness seemed to be almost all we could do." All around the room, people went to one another to make the first move: to apologize, to admit they were wrong, to forgive. On the steps of the auditorium, others were sending messages of reconciliation.
"Confession and repentance are the starting point of powerful prayer." In a culture that pushes us to promote ourselves on a résumé or on social media, it means being real and accepting that we are imperfect.
The pastor begins every morning with prayer, and first of all with confession. What saddens him is that he so often confesses the same things: anger, greed. His wife and other members of the church see him get irritated at having to empty the dishwasher yet again, hide his tiredness, get distracted by his phone. "I am with you all on the side of confession."
He can say it out loud because of this promise: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, WEB). Nehemiah had to wait and hope. We know that Jesus settled the matter of our sin on the cross.

5. Fourth pillar: ask big

"God's track record is big." Our God works on a grand scale, and Nehemiah, steeped in Scripture, knows what God has promised and what he has done.
He dares to say to God: "Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses" (Nehemiah 1:8, WEB). God had announced that he would scatter his unfaithful people, and he did: that is why Nehemiah is in Susa. God had also promised to gather his people if they returned to him (Deuteronomy 30:1-4). Nehemiah is essentially saying: "We are coming back. So bring us back. Do the other part too."
He asks for even more: "Please give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man" (Nehemiah 1:11, WEB). He wants access and influence with Artaxerxes, king of the Persian Empire.
"Now I was cup bearer to the king" (Nehemiah 1:11, WEB). This isn't a mere servant; it is an official position at the king's side. Every day, he drinks from the royal cup in case it has been poisoned. And he is about to ask the king to let him leave that post. In chapter 2, he admits: "Then I was very much afraid" (Nehemiah 2:2, WEB).
Nehemiah prays that God would act through the position he has already given him. He is willing to be part of the answer and to put his post on the line. "God has put you exactly where he needs you in order to work through you."
What does Nehemiah call the king of Persia in his prayer? "This man." That is how much he matters in God's eyes. Perhaps there are people who seem to stand in your way: God wants you to ask him to guide that man, that woman. "Nothing is too big for him."

6. God said yes

After four months of prayer, fasting and confession, Nehemiah stands before the king, who grants him everything he asks: leave of absence, letters for safe passage, timber for the gates and an armed escort.
The wall, in ruins for 140 years, is rebuilt in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15).
What is your biggest request of God today? For Nehemiah, it was: rebuild the city and bring us back when we return to you. For us, coming home means returning to God, and seeing God gather people into his family through Christ. "Lord, bring us back. Bring this city back. Bring this nation back."
It may have seemed easy for Nehemiah, but it probably wasn't: four months of tears and prayer, a post where one wrong word could cost him his life. The bad news came, and he brought it to God.
The message ends with a shared confession, then with the Lord's table, "where Jesus shows us what it cost him to bring us home."

Key takeaways

Faced with bad news, Nehemiah doesn't complain and doesn't blame anyone: he takes responsibility and prays.
We pray with confidence to a God we know: his ear is attentive, his eyes are open and he is faithful to his covenant.
Prayer isn't lived alone: we carry God's people and pray with them, sometimes for a long time, day and night.
Confession, both personal and shared, is the starting point of powerful prayer. God is faithful and righteous to forgive.
Asking big means taking God at his word and being willing to be part of the answer, right where he has placed us.

Personal application

What bad news are you carrying right now, and have you brought it to God rather than complaining or blaming someone?
Is the God you pray to a God you know personally, or one you have only heard about?
For which part of the church, your city or your nation could you pray persistently, even without seeing quick results?
What failings, personal or shared, do you need to confess honestly today?
What is your biggest request of God, and how could you be part of the answer where he has placed you?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

What are the four pillars of Nehemiah's prayer?

Darren Wolf sums them up this way: knowing God, knowing God's people, confessing sin and asking big. Nehemiah prays to a God he knows, carries all his people in prayer, confesses everyone's sins and boldly reminds God of his promises.

How can you confess sins you didn't commit yourself?

Nehemiah says: "I and my father's house have sinned." The preacher explains that when a member of our family or our church does wrong, it reflects on all of us. Jesus teaches this in the Lord's Prayer too: "Forgive us our debts," not "forgive me." The church's failings are to be confessed together.

What does "asking big" mean in prayer?

It means taking God at his word and reminding him of his promises, like Nehemiah, who says: "Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses." Nehemiah asks for the people's return and for the favor of the king of Persia, whom he simply calls "this man." Four months later, the king grants him everything, and the wall, in ruins for 140 years, is rebuilt in 52 days.